ARTICLES ABOUT CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC BY DATE - PAGE 2

BAMBARI, Central African Republic (Reuters) - At least one man was killed on Thursday in clashes that erupted after French peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic tried to disarm Muslim rebels, witnesses and hospital staff said. A spokesman for the rebels told Reuters the troops opened fire on a crowd of protesters, killing three civilians and wounding at least six. It was not possible to independently verify his claim. A French military official denied troops killed civilians and said they fired warning shots in the air after coming under fire in Bambari, the headquarters of the mostly-Muslim rebel Seleka coalition, which controls the northeast of the country.

PARIS (Reuters) - Britain offered on Saturday to send advisers to help the Nigerian military organize its efforts to fight Boko Haram rebels, who have kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls and threaten to destabilize the wider region. British Foreign Minister William Hague, speaking before the start of a meeting of Western and African leaders in Paris, said the Nigerian military was not organized in a way to deal effectively with the Islamist group. French President Francois Hollande told the meeting that Boko Haram was now a threat to all Western and Central Africa - a point that was supported by reports of a suspected Boko Haram attack on a Chinese work site in Cameroon on Friday might.

PARIS/ABUJA (Reuters) - West African leaders meet in Paris on Saturday to try to improve cooperation in their fight against the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which has kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls and threatens to destabilize the wider region. Outrage over the kidnapping has already prompted Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, criticized at home for his government's slow response, to accept U.S., British and French intelligence help in the hunt for the girls.

PARIS/BANGUI (Reuters) - A French journalist has been killed in Central African Republic, the office of President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday, the first death of a Western reporter in the country since France sent troops there in December. French soldiers found the body of freelance photojournalist Camille Lepage, 26, in a vehicle they had stopped that was being driven by "anti-balaka" militia fighters, Hollande's office said in a statement. The mainly Christian "anti-balaka" militias were created to combat the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels who seized power in March last year, since when the former French colony has descended into chaos and sectarian violence.

BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic's former Seleka rebel coalition has appointed a new army commander and plans to regroup its scattered fighters, a spokesman said on Saturday, a move that could further deepen divisions in the war-torn country. The former French colony descended into chaos after the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in March last year and their abuses against the majority Christian population set off a wave of revenge attacks, killing thousands. Seleka leaders were forced to resign under international pressure in January but Christian militias known as "anti-balaka" have intensified attacks against Muslims.

BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic's interim president pledged on Tuesday to overhaul her government and make it more representative, addressing mounting criticism of its failure to stem religious violence that has displaced nearly 1 million people. In a speech to mark her first 100 days in office, Catherine Samba-Panza acknowledged there was widespread anger at her government's lack of progress and accepted that her decision to appoint a majority of ministers from her own eastern region had stirred resentment in the former French colony.